Down a man early in the first
overtime session, Valparaiso’s Wei Ming
Wong (Hong Kong/Hong Kong International [SMU]) was fouled in the box,
resulting in a Crusader penalty kick that Zack
Stivers (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) converted to give Valpo a 2-1
overtime victory over IUPUI Sunday afternoon at Brown Field.

“Even though today wasn’t our
cleanest day in terms of how we played, I’m proud of the way our guys hung in
there and found a way to get a result against a tough IUPUI team,” said
Crusader head coach Mike Avery. “On an individual level, Adrian Ortiz (Berwyn, Ill./Morton
West) was fantastic on the back line for us today and Ryan Schwarz (Rockford,
Ill./Boylan Catholic) was very
good in net as well. We needed a strong
defensive presence, again because it wasn’t our cleanest effort today with the
ball going forward.”

Valpo was sent down to ten
men in the 89th minute of regulation, but the Crusaders were never
seriously threatened by the Jaguars during the four minutes they spent down a
man, as IUPUI got off just one shot during the time frame. Wong was taken down in the box from behind by
a Jaguar defender after a nice pass ahead from Nick Lincoln (East Thetford,
Vt./Kimball Union (N.H.) Academy) on the counter-attack, and Stivers stepped up
with his second goal of the season and the second penalty kick conversion of
his career.

The Crusaders controlled the
first half of play, outshooting IUPUI 9-3 in the opening stanza. Connor
Cappelletti (Kent, Wash./Bob
Jones (Ala.)
H.S. [Wallace State C.C.]) nearly put Valpo on the scoreboard with a header off
a corner in the 17th It looked
for a while like the game might go into the half scoreless, but Stefan Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove,
Ill./Stevenson [College of Lake County/Marquette] put the Crusaders ahead in
the 42nd minute, picking up a loose ball in the box and firing a
shot into the right side of the net from 14 yards out. minute, but a Jaguar defender was on the goal
line to clear the ball away.

The Jaguars got the equalizer
in the 57th minute from Kyle Gentile, who took a free kick from the
left flank 27 yards out that deflected off the head of a Crusader defender,
changing direction and sending it into the right-hand side of the net. Gentile had another big opportunity in the 68th
minute with the ball in the box and an open net, but Cappelletti was in perfect
position to step off the goal line and in front of the shot to keep it knotted
up at one. Stivers had Valpo’s best
scoring chance late in the second half on a 2-on-1 break that turned into a
1-on-1 with IUPUI netminder Tyler Keever, but Keever was able to punch away the
attempt.

Valpo owned a 15-11 advantage
in shot attempts on the game over IUPUI (1-3-1) and put eight shots on net to
the Jaguars’ three. Keever made five
saves in the losing effort, while Schwarz needed to make just one stop for the
win.

“I thought Keever was
fantastic in goal for IUPUI,” said Avery.
“He made two or three key saves that really could have changed the whole
flow of the game. Now our greatest
challenge is another short turnaround as we prepare to go on the road on
Wednesday.”

Valparaiso (2-2-0) returns to the pitch on Wednesday
afternoon, as it makes the short trip up to Kalamazoo
to take on Western Michigan. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. CDT.